June 19th,
2005
Dear Family,
How is life
treating you? We are doing well. We have been very busy since we wrote our
last newsletter. It’s amazing how fast
time flies when you’re having fun J. Here’s the scoop from
our little part of the world.
Bradley:
has a new favorite pastime of building puzzles (sound familiar
Grammy?) Dora and Scooby Doo are his
favorites. At just about any point of
the day you can find Bradley sitting in the middle of the floor ready to build
a puzzle or play with his legos. Bradley
is our little talker – always telling your something about someone . . . I’ll
tell you what, he can wear my ears out at times. On the other hand, he is so entertaining and
overly dramatic when he talks that it can be very amusing J.
Bradley’s my shadow, side kick and Walmart Buddy – it works out well.
Sarah:
has been very busy the past few months.
In April she started soccer – and really enjoyed playing. It would have helped if the weather hadn’t
been so wet and dreary. I think during
the entire season they only had 2 or 3 weekly practices. Mother Nature must have had a real issue with
Thursdays – there was always rain. We
signed Sarah up again to play this Fall.
We’re trying a different league – and hopefully it will be a little
better organized. We’re hoping to spend
some time with kids in the backyard to help teach them some more of the basics
of soccer. Sarah got the general idea of
it – but the positions of the players on the field and their purpose – were
kind of hard for her to understand. For
Sarah’s birthday she got a guinea pig – and with that came an even bigger
surprise of ringworm. This is why we
love pets – for the wonderful little diseases that come with them. To make a long story short – we gave guinea
pig #1 back, and opted for guinea pigs #2 and #3 – because yes, we are gluttons
for punishment. Sarah is still taking
the antifungal medication – but luckily she is getting better and we have the
ringworm under control. Last month Sarah
also battled a case of cellulitus in her arm.
They think it started through a bug bite that she got. They had to put her on massive doses of
Antibiotics to keep it under control. It
was a rough week or two for Sarah – we’re hoping she has better luck during the
summer
Nathan:
also just finished his soccer season – and really enjoyed it. I think his favorite position to play as
defender. He is good at anticipating
what move the player on offense is going to take. It was a great season, and he is looking
forward to playing this Fall. Last
Friday Ross got to go to school with Nate for a Father’s day activity. I guess they played ‘bombers’ which is
similar to playing dodge ball – and Ross got to stay for a delicious school
lunch. Ross’ favorite part was the
boondoogle that Nathan had made for his keychain – boys love that type of
stuff. The younger kids are in school
until July 1st – so Nate has been plugging away with homework, etc.
– and keeping pretty busy. Nate earned
his Wolf badge a couple months ago – as well as one gold and two silver arrow
points. He is now working on getting his
Bear. It has been fun being able to work
with Nate in the cub scout program. Nathan’s
hobby right now is origami. His Aunt
Julie gave him a calendar cube with an origami a day – and he has absolutely
enjoyed folding the papers each day and making some pretty cool ‘stuff’ J.
Nicole: is
counting the days until she is out of Elementary School (again). I think she has been pretty bored this year –
so it will be good to get her into middle school next year and load her up with
a bunch of homework. During May, Nicole
graduated from the D.A.R.E. program and at the end of that month she got to go
Lagoon on ‘D.A.R.E.’ day. She had a
great time and was able to spend some serious time hanging with her friends. Nicole and Ali started swim team last
week. There are a handful of people in
our neighborhood who have swimming pools, and one of them teaches swim lessons
and has an annual swim team for older kids.
Ali and Nicole have enjoyed being part of it, and hopefully their
strokes are improving and they’re becoming better swimmers. I think they have a competition at the end of
the season. Ali & Nicole get to go
to YW’s camp together this year – they are really excited about that. They are going to be gone July 5th
– 8th. Just in time for us to
get to St. George in time for Drew and Jennie’s Open House. Nicole also started
voice lessons and enjoyed it very much. She says her teacher is nice and has a
fun time.
Ali: is officially done with school – and she
spent the first week of her summer staying up really late, and then sleeping in
really late the next morning. Does she
sound like a teenager – or what? This
week is a different story – a little bit more structured. About three months ago Ali started taking
private viola lessons from a lady in
Jennie: I
have been a busy little bee since our last letter. On Memorial Day weekend I ran in a 5K at The
Homestead in Midway Utah – my goal was to finish the race. I was pleasantly surprised when I cut five
minutes off of my training time. Two
weeks later I ran in the ‘Heart of Holladay’ race. My goal is to run in one race a month – at
least through the summer months, and possibly through the Fall. I’ve really enjoyed it – it’s therapeutic for
me. This past weekend Ross and I got
away on an overnighter – and were able to spend some time together. On Friday we went to the
Ross: is
all about working. He spends a great
portion of his day down in the hole of our basement – otherwise known as his office. He has frozen to death down there in the
winter months, but I have a feeling that it is going to pay off during the hot
summer months. The side company that
Ross started (Carson Marketing Group) has done really well. He’s enjoying his ‘real’ job as well, but he
has been pleasantly surprised by how busy he has been with
Well, we hope that
you all have a fun and safe summer!
Love,
The Baum Shelter